Kingdom Proclaimers Report
Are You Grateful for the Public Ministry?
THE house-to-house ministry is Scriptural, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are known the world over for this feature of their public service. (Acts 20:20, 21) Jesus told his followers: “You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Acts 5:42 shows that those early Christians went “from house to house” without letup.
In Haiti there was a confrontation regarding the house-to-house ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This came about when a special pioneer met a staunch Protestant woman. During the conversation, the brother pointed out that only Jehovah’s Witnesses preach from house to house as the Bible outlines. The woman replied that members of her church could go from house to house and had done so on occasion. Sure enough, the next Saturday, the Witness met a group going from house to house, directed by this woman. There were about a hundred in the group. The woman, being quite proud of this accomplishment, called the brother to witness this feat.
A week later, the same woman headed another group and was happy to point this out to the brother. He remarked, however, that there were only about half as many as the week before. By the fourth Saturday the group had dwindled to 20, and on the fifth Saturday the woman was alone. Humbly she came to the brother and admitted: “Only Jehovah’s Witnesses have the truth, since only they can keep going in the witness work week after week.”
The special pioneer offered the woman a Bible study that would show her why the Witnesses can continue to preach from house to house and why others cannot. The woman accepted. She and her husband started to study and made good progress. Both of them are now associating with Jehovah’s Witnesses, zealously proclaiming the Kingdom publicly and from house to house!
The house-to-house and other methods of public ministering are a wonderful and loving provision that Jehovah has arranged for searching out those of honest heart and helping them to learn of his requirements for life. Accordingly, Jehovah’s Witnesses gladly share in this and other features of their sacred service to God. Their attitude is similar to that of the apostle Paul, who said: “I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who imparted power to me, because he considered me faithful by assigning me to a ministry.”—1 Timothy 1:12.